Why This Job is Featured on The SaaS Jobs
Agentic features are quickly becoming a new layer of the modern SaaS stack, and this Tech Lead Manager role sits at that foundation. The remit centers on an “agentic runtime” that must feel instant and dependable while coordinating model routing, tool execution, memory, streaming, and safety. In SaaS terms, that is core platform work where latency, multi-tenant reliability, and guardrails directly shape the product experience users perceive.
For a long-term SaaS career, the distinctive value is the combination of distributed systems rigor with emerging AI infrastructure patterns. Building and operating low-latency services, setting SLOs, and investing in observability are durable skills across B2B SaaS, especially as AI-driven workflows increase runtime complexity and cost sensitivity. Exposure to integrating multiple LLM providers and evaluation frameworks also builds practical judgment around quality, predictability, and operational trade-offs.
This role fits an engineering leader who wants to stay close to architecture and production outcomes while guiding a team through end-to-end ownership. It will suit someone who enjoys cross-functional prioritization with product and application teams, and who is motivated by measurable improvements in reliability, tail latency, and operational readiness in a hybrid, in-office environment.
The section above is editorial commentary from The SaaS Jobs, provided to help SaaS professionals understand the role in a broader industry context.
Job Description
About the Role:
The Tech Lead Manager of the Agentic Runtime team builds the low‑latency, reliable, and secure foundation that powers Glean’s AI agents and assistant experiences at scale. You’ll design and operate core runtime services for multi‑turn orchestration, tool calling, model routing, memory, streaming, and safety. You’ll work across distributed systems, production observability, and ML infra integrations to deliver an experience that feels instant, accurate, and trustworthy — while optimizing cost and reliability.
You will:
- Own impactful runtime problems end‑to‑end — from architecture and design to production launch and ongoing reliability.
- Build and evolve core services for session lifecycle, streaming responses (e.g., gRPC/WebSockets), structured tool execution, memory/state, and policy/guardrails.
- Design for performance, correctness, and cost: reduce p50/p95 latency, improve tail behavior, and optimize token/tool budgets.
- Integrate with leading LLM providers (e.g., OpenAI, Anthropic, Google Gemini) and internal evaluation frameworks to improve quality and predictability.
- Harden the platform with fault isolation, retries, timeouts, circuit‑breaking, backpressure, and graceful degradation.
- Instrument deep observability (tracing, metrics, logs) and create playbooks/SLOs for high availability and on‑call excellence.
- Collaborate closely with product, quality, and application teams to prioritize the most impactful roadmap investments.
About you:
- 8+ years of software engineering experience building production distributed systems or cloud‑native applications.
- 1+ years of engineering management experience
- BS/BA in Computer Science or related field, or equivalent practical experience.
- Strong coding skills in at least one of: Python, Go, Java, or C++, with a focus on reliability, performance, and tests.
- Product‑minded: you prioritize customer impact, clear SLAs/SLOs, and pragmatic iteration.
- Ownership‑driven with a positive, proactive attitude; comfortable leading projects or learning from battle‑tested engineers.
- Experience operating services on Kubernetes and at least one major cloud (e.g., GCP, AWS, or Azure).
- Familiarity with event/streaming systems (e.g., Pub/Sub, Kafka), caching (e.g., Redis), and data stores for low‑latency paths.
- Practical understanding of LLM/agents building blocks: tool/function calling, structured outputs, streaming, and model selection/routing.
- Strong observability and debugging skills: tracing (e.g., OpenTelemetry), metrics, dashboards, and production forensics.
- Background in one or more areas is a plus: policy/guardrails, multi‑tenant isolation, rate‑limiting, concurrency control, cost optimization.
Location:
- This role is hybrid (4 days a week in either our Mountain View or San Francisco offices)
Compensation & Benefits:
The standard base salary range for this position is $250,000 - $300,000 annually. Compensation offered will be determined by factors such as location, level, job-related knowledge, skills, and experience. Certain roles may be eligible for variable compensation, equity, and benefits.
We offer a comprehensive benefits package including competitive compensation, Medical, Vision, and Dental coverage, generous time-off policy, and the opportunity to contribute to your 401k plan to support your long-term goals. When you join, you'll receive a home office improvement stipend, as well as an annual education and wellness stipends to support your growth and wellbeing. We foster a vibrant company culture through regular events, and provide healthy lunches daily to keep you fueled and focused.
We are a diverse bunch of people and we want to continue to attract and retain a diverse range of people into our organization. We're committed to an inclusive and diverse company. We do not discriminate based on gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation, religion, civil or family status, age, disability, or race.
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